HarborOne Deploys Storage-Area Network, Gives Old System the Boot

BROCKTON, Mass. - HarborOne Credit Union is going leading-edge to solve its storage challenges, deploying a storage-area network (SAN) that will centralize the mountains of data the big CU generates. HarborOne is using a solution called Storage Center from Minneapolis-based Compellent Technologies to replace the 11 servers spread across three separate offices that had been in place. Storage management had been a challenge and only kept under control by providing each server with more than five times the storage space required by its applications, the credit union said. Sealing the deal for the $1.2 billion CU was the system's ability to "boot directly from the SAN, allowing us to buy, low-cost diskless servers," said John White, HarborOne's MIS officer and network administrator. "HarborOne was faced with a challenge that many mid-size enterprises are struggling with today - how to improve network storage efficiency on a limited budget. The Compellent SAN solves this immediate need and also equips them with an affordable platform for long-term expansion," said Scott Winslow, founder and chief executive officer of Winslow Technology Group, a consultancy that designed the SAN for HarborOne.